Chinese tourists swell, cross 37mn mark
June 30, 2013, 4:20 am

The number of outbound tourists leaving China reached 37.92 million in the first five months this year, up 17.3 per cent compared with the same period in 2012, according to China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) statistics.

However, the number of inbound tourists dropped, the administration said.

Inbound visitors reached 22.93 million between January and May, down 4.06 per cent over the same period last year.

Domestic travelers reached 998 million in the first quarter, up 14.1 per cent, with domestic travel revenue standing at 765.7 billion yuan ($123.92 billion), up 18.4 per cent, according to the administration.

In the second half of this year, China will further promote key markets and foster potential ones to develop its inbound traveling sector, said Zhu Shanzhong, deputy director of the CNTA.

China has the world’s largest domestic tourism market and outbound Chinese tourists are the biggest spenders worldwide.

57 founding members, many of them prominent US allies, will sign into creation the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on Monday, the first major global financial instrument independent from the Bretton Woods system.

Representatives of the countries will meet in Beijing on Monday to sign an agreement of the bank, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. All the five BRICS countries are also joining the new infrastructure investment bank.

The agreement on the $100 billion AIIB will then have to be ratified by the parliaments of the founding members, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing in Beijing.

The AIIB is also the first major multilateral development bank in a generation that provides an avenue for China to strengthen its presence in the world’s fastest-growing region.